


Fancy Meeting You Here

by Profiler Stu (stunudo)



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 02:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18769297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stunudo/pseuds/Profiler%20Stu





	Fancy Meeting You Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IllegalCerebral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllegalCerebral/gifts).



The bar was dark, though the after work crowds had thinned leaving the aisles more manageable. He still felt out of place, without a trivia night or a gaggle of agents around him to reaffirm his presence and purpose. He tugged at the strap of his bag, Dr. Spencer Reid never left home without it. It wasn’t even his go bag, it was just his satchel, but the weight of it kept him tethered in moments like this.

He knew the routine, act casual, wait at a booth in the back, try not to draw a lot of attention to himself. Even over six feet he was able to draw in on himself, to hide in plain sight, unfortunately it was years of practice and not the stealth of physical training that allowed the spindly man to weave among the bar-goers.

He ordered a club soda and began to people watch, which was a sort of profiler’s default in a crowd.  
  
*^*  
_Elle didn’t know what to do with all of these notes that had been buzzing around her head since the train and the heat. The tenuous standoff that had very little to do with her job, but which had put her in the line of danger regardless. There was relief, but also a tarnished kind of guilt at the disgust she felt at her fellow passengers. Those who wouldn’t or couldn’t listen to reason. She couldn’t sit still, between the car ride out of the Texas sun and the jet ride to Virginia, sitting was all she had been granted._

  
_She grabbed her keys and cell before heading for the door. She had never been to the bar before, but three minutes in and it was like every other establishment on this side of town. Cheap, for their surroundings, but still more than she needed to spend. Oddly spacious with a subtle vibe of old ashtrays and costume jewelry. A place her mothers’ friends would probably have gone, once upon a time. Before some creep had made her a widow at least._

_She wasn’t going to think about her dad, she was her to stop thinking. After a couple sidelong glances from a guy down the bar, she ordered another shot. This had been a failed escape, but at least she wasn’t locked in her apartment alone for an hour. As she walked back to her car, letting the damp air clear her head, she dialed her phone and hung up. No, there was really only one safe choice to call tonight and she would understand if he didn’t pick up._  
  
*^*  
Spencer had grown to like this bar, not because of the time he spent people watching, but because the unsubstantiated way time seemed to slow around them. She would raise her eyebrows and he would grin like the exuberant nerd that he was and everything just clicked. He needed the reassurance of her deep glare tonight. Needed to be seen and heard while feeling the quick beat of his heart as their connection scorched through his veins.

Yet, there was that tiny doubt perched in the back of his mind, that she wouldn’t remember or chose to forget. He would simply finish his drink and take the train home, no harm no foul. But the well worn scars of rejection and humiliation were not so easily silenced inside the caverns of his mind. She was always the last to arrive, by agreement and temperament. He needn’t worry so hastily. Probably.  
  
*^*  
_She gave him off the cuff instructions in a brusque tone. Quickly he had given up asking questions, instead repeating her statements as if reciting the last article he had read. She smiled when he gave her a breathy send off, the nervous energy she had been fighting all day had earned her a head full of bubbles. Perhaps that had been the bourbon. Either way, she had a destination. She left her car along the curb and walked to the nearest train station, needing to give him time to catch up._

 _When she spotted him an hour later, carefully checking his watch and drumming his fingers along his thigh she had to bite back a chuckle. Gosh he was such a mix of smarts and vulnerability and somehow, this gangly guy had saved her ass. The match had been struck: it was either time to light a fire or burn herself holding her breath. Elle marched to the center booth on the far wall where Spencer squinted behind glasses she hadn’t realized he needed._  
  
*^*  
She arrived in a rush, throwing her bag on the spare chair closest to the aisle. She leaned in and slipped her hand into his on his lap. The world floated into peripheral blotches of color and movement. She had chosen to show up and he had chosen to hold on, together anything was possible.


End file.
